rekindleme | Drowning in Sorrow and Drowning Sorrows

Entry tags:

Drowning in Sorrow and Drowning Sorrows

Who: Freya Crescent and YOU.
Where: A bar in the 3rd District
When: October 24th, afternoon
Summary: Demons just make things even harder to deal with than they already were. Help.
Warnings: Depressed rat lady drinking alcohol?

Freya wasn't one to run away from her enemies out of fear. So while the demons and spirits unnerved her, when a masked shadow approached during the night as she leaped from roof to ground, she lunged forward with her spear, only to be met with air and a touch from the fiend. Not only had her blade done nothing, she felt herself become heavy in more than one way. Thoughts of home plagued her, about how she had failed to save her king and country, how the great tree of Cleyra that promised the Burmecians safety had vanished in a second, gone forever with all those she'd promised to save. How the one she'd searched and failed for years to find had only appeared before her due to the tragedy of her country, and how he'd forgotten her completely.

Feeling hopeless, she retreated to the relative safety of her apartment for the night, but she could hardly sleep; thoughts of her failure, of being forgotten, still haunted her, and she couldn't even stand to look at her usual gear without feeling a crushing disappointment in herself.

In the afternoon, looking particularly downtrodden and missing her distinct red outfit, she dragged herself out to the local bar for a drink, hoping in vain that she might bring herself out of the dark mindset she'd fallen into. She sat slouched over her mug, her ribbon-adorned tail unusually drooping and tired green eyes staring down into the liquid without seeing it. Needless to say, she really looked like she needed a pick-me-up.

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Kresnik, oddly enough, was feeling rather positive the past few days. Ever since he got into contact with that light, he had been a little more optimistic lately. If this was some other time, he would have been annoyed that he was being influenced like this, but he couldn't bring himself to think negatively about it.

Either way, it was probably the only reason why he was at the bar right now.

He noticed Freya slouched over her mug, looking depressed and unaware of her surroundings. It would be best if he left her alone, but some part of him wanted to help. It wasn't like he ignored people in need when he was his normal self, but he didn't really go into personal problems either like this.

"...Have you been affected by the atmosphere here?"

After a she took a moment to notice she was being spoken to, Freya turned her head without lifting it to spot the owner of the unfamiliar voice. She idly wondered why someone she didn't know would bother to speak to her before answering.

"I've merely been thinking," she said, a little too focused on her own shortcomings to think about the masked shadow she'd tried to attack yesterday. Even so, there was something heavy about her demeanor that said she'd been more than just "thinking." She hadn't even recognized that she'd been feeling sluggish as well as depressed...

He noticed from before that she wasn't human, but Kresnik didn't really care too much about it. He worked with talking dolls before, so this wasn't too unusual to him.

"Is that a no, then?" Kresnik wasn't sure if she was normally like this or not, so he wanted a more clear answer. He could have just left her alone after her comment, but some part of him wanted to continue the conversation. He blamed the light. "You haven't made contact with any of the... supernatural beings here?"

"Supernatural beings?"

Now that he mentioned it, the demon she'd encountered yesterday was brought to the forefront of her mind. She had attempted to attack it, only to phase right through it, as if it were nothing but the shadow it appeared to be. Did that have something to do with the way she was feeling now? She looked down to her mug again before answering.

"... I suppose I have."

Kresnik nodded, he wasn't quite sure how else to describe the unusual things that had been affecting people around here. He wasn't sure where they came from or if this was a common occurrence, but the most worrying thing was that he didn't know how to get rid of them. But hey, maybe they'll disappear on their own and everything will be okay.

"I've been affected as well. A light made contact with me."

"A light..."

She hadn't noticed any lights, as far as she recalled; she'd been too focused on what seemed like hostile shadows to take note of them if she had seen them. She wondered if he had been influenced by it the same way she was influenced by the demon, if her current mood was indeed a result of that. He certainly didn't seem upset, but...

"How were you affected?"

"I imagine that it's the opposite of what you've been feeling." Well, she looked upset earlier and all. He could take a few guesses on what might have happened.

"I've been feeling more positive despite all the problems that's been occurring around here." Although, Kresnik didn't exactly sound so happy; he must be such a jolly person to be around normally.

"... really?"

It was a remark of both curiosity and disbelief due to his rather straight-faced manner. Still, she'd met a certain knight in rusty armor who might have been the same outwardly if he did happen to be cheerful...

"I suppose I'm glad you've avoided the shadows if my state is a result of touching them." She took a slow sip of her drink, not sure what else to say about the matter. She wasn't exactly analyzing the situation like she normally would have.

"Yes. On a normal occasion, I wouldn't start a conversation like this unless necessary." Or if Yulie wanted him to. Really, he would do almost anything to make her happy, especially since none of her friends were here. He wanted to be a good older brother now, even if he still had doubts about himself.

"...Has something similar to this happen here before? Perhaps there's a way to reverse these effects."

"I... see." The question of why he was starting one now with a stranger like herself came to mind, but she left the thought be. As much as she felt things didn't have much of a point, she'd try to keep her negativity to herself, at least.

"I don't know. I don't believe so," she remarked, though her depressed mood wasn't being terribly conducive to her normal observant behavior. She didn't see a correlation between the temperature fluctuations she'd experienced and what she was feeling now...

His newest companion didn't seem to know much about what was going on, but the depression was probably hindering her. He had a few episodes of not wanting to move on, due to his incompetence as a gene driver, but those thoughts are far away from his mind now. Or at least, they're not going to drag him down this time.

"Well, many individuals are most likely looking into this. Something will turn up."

"If my current mood is due to those shadows..." Freya trailed off, almost dropping the thought entirely because she had no real desire to think things through. She took a slow breath and a drink of her mug again, setting it down with a clack.

"I can't be the only one feeling this way." The knight turned in her seat to face the commander, mild frown on her face amid the fatigue. "Have you... seen any others who appear... distressed, or in low spirits?"

"You aren't the only individual that's been feeling this way." Kresnik noticed how many people's spirits started to dwindle lately. Or how they remarked about the shadows around them. "No one that I know of personally, just mostly my own observations."

"I see."

She wasn't entirely sure if she was comforted by that or not. Her tired eyes slowly moved to stare into space as she tried to think her way through the gloom.

"You said you were affected in the opposite way?" Mysterious forces causing people in the city to feel opposite extremes... maybe there was something more familiar to the idea than she initially thought.

"Yes, I've been feeling more optimistic about our current situation. Ever since the light touched me, I don't feel as frustrated." He wondered if she was going something with this.

"Does this have any correlation with the... physical requirements of this city?"

"It might," Freya replied slowly. "Not too long ago... people were affected in ways opposite from each other, only it was our temperatures that reached extremes."

It still took her a bit of effort to get her thoughts out, but she at least had an idea of what was going on now.

"We recovered by maintaining contact with one of the opposite extreme for a short while."

That didn't sound familiar to him, so it must have occurred before he arrived at this place. Kresnik supposed that he dodged a bullet there, but he was still being affected now.

"Then this might be solved through the same method." It was worth trying at least. "...A simple touch couldn't hurt at this stage."

She nodded; touch was beneficial in this place no matter what seemed to be happening, it seemed, so there was no harm in trying.

The knight held out a hand for Kresnik to shake. "My name is Freya Crescent."

Kresnik wasn't really good with the whole touching thing so far, but he was perfectly fine with a simple handshake. He reached over and grasped her hand, shaking it firmly.

"I'm Commander Kresnik Ahtreide of the Congressional Knights."

"It's good to meet you, Commander," she replied, wondering just how many soldiers had arrived here in Saeng Seong.

She held the grip for a few moments longer than a typical handshake, feeling just a mite of relief from her worries. The underlying issues weren't about to go away anytime soon, of course, but maybe she could keep from stewing in the negativity...

When she let go, Freya gestured to the seat next to her. "Would you mind sitting for a bit?"

Kresnik nodded in response to her comment, but he didn't return the words. It wasn't out of a lack of respect though.

He allowed his hand to be gripped in hers for a while, figuring that it was helping in some way. Even if it wasn't, well, at least he got some of his own physical requirement out of the way.

"...I don't mind." He took the seat next to her after a small pause. "Did that handshake help at all?"

"Somewhat," she replied, turning back to her drink. "It was only a few seconds, but I suppose it's not surprising that it would be the solution..."

The knight took another sip of her mug and set it down with a sigh.

"It is frustrating that the people here either claim to know nothing about how these things happen or plainly refuse to tell us more details..."

"Despite how considerate they act, I doubt they would tell us everything. In the end, they still brought us here without our consent." Brought Yulie here without warning. He couldn't really forgive them on that reason alone.

Freya nodded silently in agreement.

"I have no intention of trusting them fully, even if they appear friendly. That is why I wished to seek out answers on my own, but..."

"Getting answers from them is not an easy task." They wouldn't make things too easy for them, not where it really counted anyway. Outright demanding them to return home didn't look like a viable option either.

Drowning in Sorrow and Drowning Sorrows

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